Throughout 2010, former Guantánamo prisoner Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington, journalist and author of The Guantánamo Files, will be touring the UK, showing the new Guantánamo documentary “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” and attending post-screening Q&A sessions. On some dates, Omar, who is now the legal director of the Guantánamo Justice Centre, and Andy, who co-directed the film, will be joined by Polly Nash, the film’s co-director, representing Spectacle, the production company, and, occasionally, other guests including former prisoner Moazzam Begg, the director of Cageprisoners.

Below is a list of the confirmed screenings to date. Unless otherwise noted, all events are free. Updates will be added as confirmation is received, which I will announce via blog posts, but please feel free to bookmark this page to keep up to date.

Also, on Thursday February 4, Andy was in Brighton, speaking about Guantánamo to the Brighton Amnesty International Group, and on Saturday February 6, Polly and Andy were in Oslo for a screening of the film at the Human Rights, Human Wrongs Festival. See here for further details, and see here for Andy’s report on an excellent festival, and the wonderful reception that the film received.

“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” – UK Tour Dates 2010

February 2010

Tuesday February 16, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London, EC2A 3EA (map and directions here). With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
Q&A chaired by Widney Brown, the Senior Director of International Law and Policy at the International Secretariat.
For further information, see here. And see here for a report on the screening.

Saturday February 27, 2 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
NFT2 (National Film Theatre), South Bank, London (map and directions here). With Gareth Peirce, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
Q&A moderated by Victoria Brittain, followed by an opportunity to meet the panelists to discuss further action on Shaker Aamer’s behalf, and to receive information from stallholders conducting relevant campaigns.
This screening was organized by the BFI (British Film Institute).
For further information, see here and the BFI website. And see here for a report on the screening.

March 2010

Monday March 1, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
New Theatre, East Building, LSE (London School of Economics), London, WC2A 2AE. With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington, Polly Nash and special guest Michel Paradis (US defense lawyer, Military Commissions).
The film was the centerpiece of LSE Amnesty International Society’s Human Rights Week 2010.
For further information, please contact Noémie Adam. Also see LSE Amnesty’s Facebook page. And see here for a report on the screening.

Friday March 5, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Oxford Brookes University, Headington Hill Hall, Headington Campus, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP. With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
The film was screened as part of Oxford Brookes University’s annual Human Rights Film and Music Festival, organized by postgraduate students on the MA course in Development and Emergency Practice.
For further information, please contact Bethanie Cunnick. Also see the website here, and this page. And see here for a report on the screening.

Tuesday March 9, 7.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Bradford Playhouse, 4-12 Chapel St, Little Germany, Bradford, BD1 5DL. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was facilitated with the support of Bradford Amnesty International Group.
For further information, please contact Eleanor Barrett, Director, Bradford Playhouse. Also, see the website here. And see here for a report on the screening.

Wednesday March 10, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
The Curve (downstairs in The Forum), Millennium Plain, Norwich, NR2 1AW (map and directions here). With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Norwich Stop the War Coalition and Norwich Amnesty.
For further information, please contact Frank Stone. And see here for a report on the screening.

Tuesday March 16, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), Khalili Lecture Theatre, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG. With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
Q&A moderated by Laleh Khalili, Senior Lecturer in Politics of the Middle East. See here for a report on the screening.

Wednesday March 17, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
UCL, Edward Lewis Theatre, Windeyer Institute, 46 Cleveland Street London, W1T 4JF. With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and special guest Philippe Sands, barrister, Professor of International Law at UCL and author of Torture Team.
This event was organized by UCL Institute for Human Rights. See here for registration and a map. For further information, please contact Ben Rutledge. And see here for a report on the screening.

Thursday March 18, 5 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
University of Kent, Keynes College Lecture Theatre 1, Canterbury Campus, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This event, entitled “The Past, Present and Future of Guantánamo,” and organized to mark the 7th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, was presented by the Centre for American Studies, with the support of Hispanic Studies, Amnesty, Kent Debating Society, People & Planet and the Current Affairs Society.
For further information, please contact William Rowlandson, Lecturer and Head of Hispanic Studies. And see here for a report on the screening.

Monday March 22, 5.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
University of Dundee, Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill/Balfour Street, Dundee, DD1 4HB. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Dundee University Students Association.
For further information, please contact Craig. And see here for a report on the screening.

Tuesday March 23, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
University of Aberdeen, Lecture Theatre Fraser Nobel 1 (FN1), King’s College, Aberdeen, AB24 3FX. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Aberdeen University Amnesty International Society. For further information, please contact Annika Wipprecht. See the website here. And see here for a report on the screening.

Wednesday March 24, 7.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington, and special guest Aamer Anwar (human rights lawyer).
This screening was organized by SACC (Scotland Against Criminalising Communities). For further information, please contact Richard Haley, and see the SACC website here. And see here for a report on the screening.

Thursday March 25, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Adelaides, 209 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4HZ. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington, and special guest Aamer Anwar (human rights lawyer).
This screening was organized by SACC (Scotland Against Criminalising Communities). For further information, please contact Richard Haley, and see the SACC website here. See here for a report on the screening, and see here for videos of the Q&A session.

Monday March 29, 5.45 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
L17 Lecture Theatre and Castle Lecture Theatre, London South Bank University, London Road, London, SE1 6LN. With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening was part of an event entitled, “In Search of Freedom and Justice,” organized by LSBU Islamic Society. Tickets for the event cost £5, with proceeds going to charity, and the price included a meal following the screening and Q&A. Doors opened at 4.30 pm, the events ended at 8 pm, and other guests included poet Zak King, and a speaker from the Justice for Aafia Siddiqui campaign.
For further information, please contact Mohamed Hassan.

Wednesday March 31, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.The University of Nottingham, Room B63, Law and Social Sciences Building, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD.
This screening was organized by the Human Rights Film Group at the University of Nottingham, a student-led initiative, showing engaging and provocative films which bring challenging human rights issues to life. Screenings are organised by a student committee with the support of the Human Rights Law Centre and are free and open to the community. For further information, please contact The Human Rights Film Series.

April 2010

Monday April 26, 8 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA. With Moazzam Begg, Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington, Polly Nash and Tara Murray of Reprieve.
This screening was part of the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF). For further information, see the website here, and see here for booking details. Also see here for information about Free Word and the Free Word Centre, “an international centre for literature, literacy and free expression.” See here for a report on the screening.

Tuesday April 27, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
The University of Essex, Lecture Theatre LTB3, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by the University of Essex’s Human Rights Centre, Human Rights Society and Amnesty International Society, as part of the annual “Spring Festival: Art & Culture For Humanity” (April 26 to May 2).
For further information, please contact Sylvain Aubry. See the website here.

May 2010

Tuesday May 4, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Aston University, Aston Students’ Guild, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET. With Moazzam Begg, Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Aston Triangle Cinema Club.
For further information, please contact Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya, Sociology and Public Policy, School of Languages and Social Sciences, or Attique Rehman. Also see the Cinema Club website, the Students’ Guild website and the Facebook page here. And see here for a report on the screening.

Wednesday May 5, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Birmingham Library Theatre, Paradise Place, Birmingham, B3 3HQ (near the Central Library). With Moazzam Begg, Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Birmingham International Film Society (BIFS). Tickets cost £3.50 (£2.50 Concessions).
For further information please email Max Simpson or phone 07813 321423. Also see the BIFS website here, and Birmingham Amnesty Group’s page here. And see here for a report on the screening.

Tuesday May 11, 5.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Lecture Theatre 3, Herschel Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU (opposite Haymarket bus and Metro station). With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Tyneside Stop the War Coalition.
For further information, please email Tony Dowling or phone 07719 946814. Also see the website here, and the Facebook page here.

Friday May 21, 7.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Christ Church College, Blue Boar Lecture Theatre, the University of Oxford, St. Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1DP. With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening was organized by the Oxford University Amnesty International group, and a Facebook page is here. For further information, please contact Amnesty Oxford.

Thursday May 27, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
The Broca, 4 Coulgate Street, Brockley, London, SE4 2RW. With Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by The Broca as a prelude to the annual Brockley Max arts festival. On Tuesday June 1, at 7 pm, Andy also presented a screening of “Operation Solstice,” a documentary about The Battle of the Beanfield, on the 25th anniversary of this often-overlooked confrontation between travellers/political activists and the State (under Margaret Thatcher). For further information, please contact Andy, or, for the Broca, by email here.

Friday May 28, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Arts A1 Lecture Theatre, The University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RF. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by the University of Sussex Amnesty International group. For a map of the campus, showing the Arts A1 Lecture Theatre (No. 22 on map), see here. For other maps, see here, and for further information, please contact Michael Fisher.

Saturday May 29, 2 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Under the Bridge music studio, 7 Trafalgar Arches, Brighton, BN1 4FQ. With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Under the Bridge (see the website here, and also see here for “Radio Free Brighton,” housed in the studios). For a map, see here (the studios are underneath the main railway station), and for further information, please contact Jackie Chase on 07799 564620.

June 2010

Wednesday June 2, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Room 417, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX. With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening was organized by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Please contact Barbara Zollner for further information. Also see MeetUp pages here and here.

July 2010

Friday July 9, 12 noon: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Roehampton University, London SW15 5PU. With Andy Worthington.
This was a private screening for US Fulbright students.

September 2010

Sunday September 12, 11 am: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Renoir Cinema, Brunswick Centre, London SW1. With Andy Worthington, Polly Nash and Jenny Morgan.
This screening, with Jenny Morgan’s “A Place in the City,” was organized by the London Socialist Film Co-Op. Tickets cost £10 (£8 concessions). See here for details, and see here for a map.

October 2010

Tuesday October 19, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
The Forum Theatre, Malvern Theatres, Grange Road, Malvern, WR14 3HB. With Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Malvern Amnesty Group. Tickets cost £9.50 (£8.50 concs.) and were available from Malvern Theatres (01684 892277) or at the Amnesty Bookshop, 3 Edith Walk (01684 563507). Student tickets were also available from the Bookshop for £5. Also see the website here. And see here for a report on the screening.

November 2010

Wednesday November 17, 7.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Blue Sky Cafe, Ambassador Hall, Rear of 236 High Street, Bangor, LL57 1PA.
With Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Occasional Cinema and Bangor Peace Group. Tickets cost £3.
For further information, please contact Linda Rogers. Also see the Blue Sky Cafe website, and see here for a report on the screening.

Monday November 22, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
The Ultimate Picture Palace, Jeune Street, Oxford, OX4 1BN.
With Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening was a fundraiser for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and was organized by the Oxford regional group. Tickets cost £6.
For further information, please contact Rosemary Shurgold on 01865 722820 or by email. Also see the website here, and see here for the Medical Foundation’s main website.

December 2010

Thursday December 9, 6 pm: Film screening — “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
UCL, Lecture Theatre LG04, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP.
With Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
For Human Rights Day, UCL Human Rights Society organized this screening at short notice. See the Facebook page, and the website here, Also see here for a map, and for further information please email Rachel Eve Ginter.

Friday December 10, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Roehampton University, London, SW15 5PU.
With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening was part of the Roehampton Human Rights Film Festival, organized by the Human Rights Society, and took place on the 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day, which began on the second anniversary of the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Sadly, the human rights course at Roehampton faces the axe as a result of the Tory-led coalition government’s unprecedented assault on funding for arts and humanities subjects. Please sign the petition here opposing the closure of the course.
For further information, please contact Marina Manners.

Saturday December 11, 4.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, London, SW11 5TN.
With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening was part of “A Day for Shaker Aamer,” organized by the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign in his home borough of Wandsworth. The day began at 12 noon, with a demonstration at Ponton Road, Nine Elms, London SW8, the site of the new US embassy. At 12.30 those gathered marched to Battersea Arts Centre for a public meeting, beginning at 2 pm, with speakers including Moazzam Begg, Victoria Brittain, Jeremy Corbyn, Lindsey German, Kate Hudson, Gareth Peirce and Yvonne Ridley. Throughout the day, there were also stalls and displays in the Great Hall.
For further information, please phone the SSAC on 07756 493877 or email. Also see the Facebook page here, and see here for the BAC website. See here for a report on the day and the screening.

Wednesday December 15, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Showroom & Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX.
With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening was organized by Showroom and the Centre for Peace History at Sheffield University.
For further information, please contact Michael S. Foley, and also see the Showroom website.

About the film

“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” is a new documentary film, directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, telling the story of Guantánamo (and including sections on extraordinary rendition and secret prisons) with a particular focus on how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, how prisoners were rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening (and often for bounty payments), and why some of these men may have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan for reasons unconnected with militancy or terrorism (as missionaries or humanitarian aid workers, for example).

The film is based around interviews with former prisoners (Moazzam Begg and, in his first major interview, Omar Deghayes, who was released in December 2007), lawyers for the prisoners (Clive Stafford Smith in the UK and Tom Wilner in the US), and journalist and author Andy Worthington, and also includes appearances from Guantánamo’s former Muslim chaplain James Yee, Shakeel Begg, a London-based Imam, and the British human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce.

Focusing on the stories of Shaker Aamer, Binyam Mohamed and Omar Deghayes, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” provides a powerful rebuke to those who believe that Guantánamo holds “the worst of the worst” and that the Bush administration was justified in responding to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by holding men neither as prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva Conventions, nor as criminal suspects with habeas corpus rights, but as “illegal enemy combatants” with no rights whatsoever.

Take action for Shaker Aamer

Throughout the tour, Omar, Andy and Polly (and other speakers) will be focusing on the plight of Shaker Aamer, the only one of the film’s main subjects who is still held in Guantánamo, despite being cleared for release in 2007, and despite the British government asking for him to be returned to the UK in August 2007. The urgent need for Shaker Aamer’s return from Guantánamo was heightened in November 2010, when the British government reached a financial settlement with 15 former prisoners — and with Shaker, even though he is still held by the Obama administration.

Born in Saudi Arabia, Shaker Aamer moved to the UK in 1994, and was a legal British resident at the time of his capture, after he had traveled to Afghanistan with Moazzam Begg (and their families) to establish a girls’ school and some well-digging projects. He has a British wife and four British children (although he has never seen his youngest child).

As the foremost advocate of the prisoners’ rights in Guantánamo, Shaker’s influence upset the US authorities to such an extent that those pressing for his return fear that the US government wants to return him to Saudi Arabia, the country of his birth, where he will not be at liberty to tell his story, and recent revelations indicate that, despite claims that it has been doing all in its power to secure his release, the British government may also share this view.

In December 2009, it emerged in a court case in the UK that British agents witnessed his abuse while he was held in US custody in Afghanistan, and in January 2010, for Harper’s Magazine, law professor Scott Horton reported that he was tortured in Guantánamo on the same night, in June 2006, that three other men appear to have been killed by representatives of an unknown US agency, and that a cover-up then took place, which successfully passed the deaths off as suicides.

At the screenings, the speakers will discuss what steps we can all take to put pressure on the British government to demand the return of Shaker Aamer to the UK, to be reunited with his family. To get involved now, please visit this page, for a draft letter that you can cut and paste and send to your MP asking for Shaker’s immediate return to the UK. Please also visit this page for a video of Shaker’s daughter Johina handing in a letter to Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street on January 11, 2010.

Feedback

““Outside the Law” is essential viewing for anyone interested in Guantánamo and other prisons. The film explores what happens when a nation with a reputation for morality and justice acts out of impulse and fear. To my mind, Andy Worthington is a quintessential force for all things related to the journalism of GTMO and its inhabitants. As a military lawyer for Fayiz al-Kandari, I am constantly reminded that GTMO is ongoing and that people still have an opportunity to make history today by becoming involved. “Outside the Law” is a fantastic entry point into the arena that is GTMO.”Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, attorney for Guantánamo prisoner Fayiz al-Kandari

“I thought the film was absolutely brilliant and the most powerful, moving and hard-hitting piece I have seen at the cinema. I admire and congratulate you for your vital work, pioneering the truth and demanding that people sit up and take notice of the outrageous human rights injustices perpetrated against detainees at Guantánamo and other prisons.”Harriet Wong, Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture

“Last Saturday I went to see Polly Nash and Andy Worthington’s harrowing documentary, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” at London’s BFI. The film knits together narratives so heart-wrenching I half wish I had not heard them. Yet the camaraderie between the detainees and occasional humorous anecdotes … provide a glimpse into the wit, courage and normalcy of the men we are encouraged to perceive as monsters.”Sarah Gillespie, singer/songwriter

“The film was great — not because I was in it, but because it told the legal and human story of Guantánamo more clearly than anything I have seen.”Tom Wilner, US attorney who represented the Guantánamoprisoners before the US Supreme Court

“The film was fantastic! It has the unique ability of humanizing those who were detained at Guantánamo like no other I have seen.”Sari Gelzer, Truthout

“Engaging and moving, and personal. The first [film] to really take you through the lives of the men from their own eyes.”Debra Sweet, The World Can’t Wait

“I am part of a community of folks from the US who attempted to visit the Guantánamo prison in December 2005, and ended up fasting for a number of days outside the gates. We went then, and we continue our work now, because we heard the cries for justice from within the prison walls. As we gathered tonight as a community, we watched “Outside the Law,” and by the end, we all sat silent, many with tears in our eyes and on our faces. I have so much I’d like to say, but for now I wanted to write a quick note to say how grateful we are that you are out, and that you are speaking out with such profound humanity. I am only sorry what we can do is so little, and that so many remain in the prison.”Matt Daloisio, Witness Against Torture

For further information, interviews, or to inquire about broadcasting, distributing or showing “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” please contact Polly Nash or Andy Worthington. For inquiries about screenings, please also feel free to contact Maryam Hassan.

Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo, co-director, We Stand With Shaker. Also, singer and songwriter (The Four Fathers) and photographer (The State of London). Email Andy Worthington